The profession’s response to overt and covert threats to the ruling hegemony

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between three sociological concepts in an architectural context: profession, hegemony, and government, focusing on times of crisis. The crisis is caused by two types of perceived threat to the hegemonic social order: one is overt and recognized by the government, and the other is covert and not officially acknowledged. In both cases, the threat has the potential to overturn the power hierarchy and thus damage the status of the profession. This relationship is observed through architectural analysis because the products of architecture represent identities, values, and power relations, thus enabling an examination of the profession’s role in the broader social context. The findings of the study indicate that in a time of crisis, which is perceived – even by the authorities – as a threat to society at large, the profession makes itself entirely available to assist the governmental authority so as to preserve the existing hegemony. By contrast, when the ruling authorities do not consider the crisis to constitute a threat to the hegemonic social order, the profession ‘chooses its battles’ based on its interest in preserving the hegemony, to retain its own power and status.